This painting shows a whaler's cottage. Whaling towns, villages, and their cottages dotted the New England coast in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The wives of these seafaring men must have led lonely lives because their men were often absent for years at a time or didn't return at all. She had her children to help and keep her company. The boys in these families often followed their fathers into this trade. The boys on my picture are practicing for the day when they will join their father on the sea. They are pretending with a spyglass and a harpoon made from a stick.